Craft for Kids: How to Make Handmade Paper

A Little Spirit has an incredible range of amazing art and craft kits for kids of all ages so they can get creative at home!

Sally from A Little Spirit has created another fun kids tutorial, especially for ellaslist readers, based on her family's current favourite lockdown activity - making recycled notecards from their endless supply of paper packaging waste.

Making handmade paper is a purposeful, relaxing activity for kids that never fails to keep them occupied for a solid two hours. Coffee break coming up!

Whilst Sally's girls love to make notecards, the creative possibilities are endless. You could create an ancient treasure map that has been hidden in a locked box on a deserted island for centuries! Or you could make some eco-friendly bookmarks. Heck, with so much lockdown time, your kids could even write a book.

RELATED: Art For Kids: Get Creative With A Little Spirit
RELATED: Where You Can Use Your Creative Kids Voucher

What do you Need to Make Paper?

The papermaking tools in this tutorial are part of the Creative Kids Earth Craft Kit from A Little Spirit, which includes the papermaking set (frame and deckle, water absorption felt and roller), plus a flower press, some terracotta air-drying clay and an 11 piece wooden clay modelling toolset. The kit is valued at $100 and can be purchased for FREE when redeeming your Service NSW Creative Kids Voucher.

What you'll need:

• The Creative Kids Earth Craft Kit
• Water
• Scrap Paper
• Plastic Storage Tub (we like to use a big tub and make loads of paper)
• Stick Blender
• Sponge
• Absorbent Material such as a towel or cloth
• Beaker
• Storage container

Method:

1. Cut or tear your paper roughly into 2-3cm wide strips or squares.

2. Place your scrap pieces of paper in water and allow them to soak overnight.

3. Place 1-2 cups of your soggy paper into your beaker and fill it up with water.

4. Mix with your stick blender until it resembles pulp.

5. Fill your storage container with water - about ½ - ⅔ should do it.

6. Pour your pulp into the storage container. The paper pulp should be swimming around in the water. 

Now, this is where the fun starts!

7. Stir your pulp.

8. Sit the frame, screen side up, and place the deckle on top.

9. Holding them together at a 45-degree angle, lower the Frame & Deckle to the bottom of the pulp and pull upwards and out of the tub. There is a bit of a learning curve to getting an even spread of paper pulp, so try a few different scooping depths and angles.

10. Shake the frame from side to side to get an even sheet of paper sludge, then allow the water to drip out for a few moments.

Now it’s time to move the wet sheet from the frame to a flat dry surface. This will absorb any remaining moisture.  Use an absorbent material such as a tea towel, towel or cloth for this task.

11. Now remove the Deckle from the Frame. Set the long edge of the Frame on the surface of your absorbent fabric and in one quick and smooth motion, place the Frame face down.

12. Place your felt on the mesh and gently use the roller to squeeze out excess water, slowly increasing your pressure.

13. Carefully remove your frame and repeat the process until you have made the perfect amount of paper.

14. Carefully take your cloth and lay it flat outside, hang on the line or over a chair. (Sally used a clothes hanger in our sunroom so that the paper doesn’t blow around too much.)

15. Once your paper has dried on the cloth, carefully peel away the cloth.

It might take a couple of days to dry, but don’t worry, all good things take time. Your paper won't be perfectly flat, but we quite like the handmade effect. If you do want perfectly flat paper, you can pop it under a chopping board or in between the pages of a book for a few hours.

Get the Creative Kids Earth Craft Kit now from A Little Spirit.

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